Bill Moeller Commentary: Kudos to Centralia, Lewis County for the Rebirth of Borst Avenue

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One morning late last week I was driving to Thorbeckes and noticed that — as far as I could see — all the barriers had been removed from Borst Avenue. Only one thought crossed my mind at that point — I had to drive all the way to where it ends at the high school. The only verbal comment that came to my mind was, “Wow,” repeated several times. I’m writing this one week before you’re reading it, so by now I’m sure others have had the same reaction.

Before Zelda (she of the feline Siamese persuasion) and I moved to Nylandia Park, we lived for a few years in the apartment complex where Scheuber Road connects with Borst Avenue. On nice days I might walk to Safeway — if my grocery list didn’t contain anything heavy — but I nearly always felt a little uneasy about how safe it was, even though I conscientiously walked on the side of the road that faced traffic.

If a power surge hadn’t wiped out all my past columns in my computer I could tell you how many times I wrote about improving the situation. There’ll be no need for further improvement. Borst Avenue is now the prettiest street in Lewis County. The long line of street lights, the spaces for future plantings between the sidewalk and the street, the width of the sidewalk and the re-paving of the road itself all guarantee that.

I can’t imagine that any of us can feel anything but gratitude and send our congratulations to the City of Centralia and Lewis County for coming together in this project. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some people who don’t know that Borst Avenue runs through a dividing line between those two entities, with part of the road in Lewis County and part of it in Centralia.

I’ve written before about the information included in the next three paragraphs because I feel strongly about the topic and maybe some others do as well. Forty years ago, when Centralia was still governed by a three-member commission and I sat in the Mayor’s chair, the “new” Centralia High School building was still only 10 years old but, as it still does, it sat on county property. There was talk about annexing it to the city of Centralia, but to do so there would have had to be a connecting link of all the property adjoining Borst Avenue annexed as well before shifting Centralia’s boundary. I was in favor of it, but the Commission’s vote was two to one against it. As our resident curmudgeon, I’m still in favor of it. 

The argument against annexation seemed to boil down to the thought that most residents of the area would be against it because taxes were a bit lower in the county. Electricity was higher, though, and response time from city police was usually shorter than than from the county sheriff’s department. On the other hand, response to a fire would have been quicker from District 12 than from the Centralia Fire Department. As an insert here, I’m glad that I was part of the six member team which spearheaded the move to consolidate the two departments into Riverside Fire Authority, a win-win for both sides.

And, finally, I just felt that Centralia High School should be within the boundary of Centralia’s city limits. Oh, there was one other reason for my feeling that way. Since my title also included being commissioner of both the fire and police departments, I was against using either for activities outside of the city limits but I was out-voted two to one there, too.



 What are your thoughts on the matter?

 

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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.